Saturday, 3 December 2016

Ludwigsburg Christmas Market and Schrottwichteln

Every year, my hometown Ludwigsburg holds a Christmas market that spans a full four weeks. In recent years, it has opened on the Tuesday before the first Advent Sunday. This year, this meant the 22nd of November - a rather early start, but eagerly awaited nonetheless.I've already told you that my Mum and I went to the opening, and my previous post shows a picture of me having the first of many Holzofen-Dinnede - my preferred Christmas market food.Last year, I showed you pictures of the opening ceremony here. It was almost exactly the same this year, and therefore, I took no new pictures.The market itself looks pretty much the same every year, too, but we want it that way, because we really like the lights and angels and stars. I took a few pictures with my mobile phone this year:

Wednesday night this week, I met up with my Mum and sister after work for another stroll across the market. Much to my delight, my Dad was there, too - it is rare these days that the four of us do something like that together, mainly due to my Dad's health.Thursday night after work I spent baking (I'll show you what I made in another post) and speaking to O.K. on the phone, and last night (Friday), I hosted the annual Schrottwichteln - a tradition with my girlfriends, firmly established since 2007 or 2008. What Schrottwichteln is and how it works is explained in this post.This time, there were six of us; our friend who left Baden-Wuerttemberg some years ago to move up North to be with her love couldn't make it. But we had a new guest: One of the two ladies I know from Librarian School (our friendship dates back to 1986) and who I went to Bad Wimpfen with a couple of times.For the first time, I hosted the event in my "new" living room. Here is how the room looked - compare with the old post, if you like:

Again, we had tons of fun; this year's presents were a selection of the good, the bad and the ugly - what I got was this:

Four Glühwein mugs (mulled wine is a "must" at every German Christmas market, and at most markets, you can either keep the mug or return it to the booth and get a small amount of money back)! They will probably be put to good use this weekend :-)

It was as much fun as it sounds - probably even more :-)I am sure your book club Christmas parties will be just as good!

This mulled wine was ready bought, but when it is home made, you take red wine and spice it with coriander, cinammon (I think), gloves and orange. Then heat it up - don't boil - and serve steaming hot. Depending on the red wine and amount of spices you have used, it will be more or less sweet; most people prefer it less sweet. And don't go for the cheapest red wine, thinking it won't matter because it is spiced anyway. It does matter, and the best Glühweins are those based on really fine wine.

It sounds as though more than one happy time lit up your world...I love the Christmas Markets, though I am still curious about the Holzofen dinede. I looked at images of this and it seems like a kind of pizza, but I'm probably not getting it right...Fun to have a party in your "new" rooms with old friends and a sort of new (to this group) friend. Your home looks lovely! Are those gluhwein mugs ceramic? I am amazed that they could be given out for just a small deposit. You look great in this picture! So happy!

Thank you, Kristi! Winter will never be my favourite season, weather-wise, but I am making it "favourite" for me in terms of getting together with friends and family as much as possible, and doing nice indoor things when it is too cold to go out. The Christmas market helps!The mugs are just normal coffee/tea mugs decorated with pictures of the Christmas markets where they were bought; one is Ludwigsburg, the other are from Tübingen.I am not sure whether what you get back when you return the mug to the stall is 1 or 2 Euros, but certainly not more than that.

PS: Dinnete could be described as a kind of Swabian pizza, but it is more "bready" and there is no tomato sauce involved. The dough really is very much like bread, and the topping is creamy and comes with potatos and ham or cheese, onions and ham or cheese or green beans with ham or cheese.

The angels! I hope that people will click on the photos to make them larger so they can see them better! The wings are amazing. Mulled wine in those mugs, that sounds very nice. Sorry that your Dad's health is poorly but glad that you were able to spend time together. x

My Dad's health issues are of the kind that he still does many things - he drives out to the allotment several times a week to feed the birds, he works at the charity shop once a week and does many household tasks. But walking is difficult, and therefore, he does not go to events such as the Christmas market where one walks around much anymore.Those angels are there every year, maybe you remember them from posts about the Christmas market in previous years? The market wouldn't be the same without them!